Floor for buildings



(No Model.)

F: FURNESS.

1,003 FOB. BUILDINGS. No. 416,907.

"Patented Dec. 10, 1889.

INVENTOR (fl flak 174111114 N, PETERMPhdIn-Lhho nghar. wahin mn. uc

UNIT D STATES PA ENT OFFICE.

FRANK runnnss, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

FLOOR FOR BUILDINGS; L

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentN'o. 416,907, dated December 10, 1889. j

" Application filed August 1 5','18 88.' Seria1No.282,828. (No model.) l i To all whom it may concern: v

Be it known that I, FRANK FURNESS, of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania,

have invented certain new and useful Im provements in Floors for Buildings, whereof the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

which illustrate several stages of the method. of laying the floor as well as the finished structure itself.

The object of my invention is to obtain a practically fire-proof floor at much less expense than can be done by the usual modes of construction.

The so-called fire-proof floor most commonly used consists of a series of iron beams or girders laid close to one another, usually not more than thirty-six to forty-eight inches brick. Transverse wooden sleepers are bedded in concrete on top of the brick arches and iron girders, the object of these sleepers being to afford nailing for the ordinary board floor. This method is open to the objection of cost, owing to the great number of iron girders required for a given area, and is also liable to be destroyed by fire in the room be: low, since any considerable warping or twisting of the'iron girders from heat may loosen the bricks of the arches and allow them to drop, thus, of course, exposingt-he under side In Fig. 1 the structure is represented as" support-ed upon piers A, though, of course,

any other system of supporting may be adopted. At intervals of, say, eight feet are placed horizontal iron beams or girders B,

upon which I arrange a series of transverse wooden joists 0, parallel to one another and at a distance from center tocenter of eighteen inches. Along the lower edges of these wooden joists, and upon both sides thereof,YI attach an gle irons D, so as to form horizontal flanges of, say, two and one-half inches in width. 1 then fill in the spaces between the several pairs of joists with slabs of artificialstone or concrete E, preferably applying the same in the manner illustrated on theright-hand side 6b of Fig3, where H I represent a temporary supporting-floor arranged beneath a pair of joists and extending completely across the opening between them. The artificial-stone composition, in a plastic state, is poured into i the receptacle thus formed by the joists and the temporary flooring, and after the com position has hardened the temporary flooring is removed, leaving the slab E of artificial stone suspended by the angle-irons D. As shown 7o;

in the drawings, I allow'the upper I edgesof the joists C to project slightlyabovethe top I of the slabs E.

The wooden flooringF (in case that material is used) is then nailed to the top of the joists. I '1 For tile floors and floors of asimilar'character the wooden joists form a key for the l cement ground-work for tile floor, or the ground-work for a cement floor or floor of a j f The under side of the'So similar character. structure (which is of course the ceiling ofthe room beneath) is coated with plaster G to a thickness sufficient to fully protect the under sides of joists C. I have found that a floor thus constructed is fire-proof under the most severe tests, it being practically im- X possible to dislodge the concrete slabs or to set fire to the joists O. f j I The advantages in the cheapness of construction over the ordinary floors above re ferred to are obvious.

In the foregoing descriptionI have specified the use of angle-irons as the preferred mode of constructing the flanges tosupport the concrete slabs; but it must beunderstood that I do not limit my claim to this particular form of flange; and in using the term flanged in my claim I mean thereby to in clude any underhanging support, whether continuous or not, which is capable of prop- 10o erly sustaining the slabs. .Furthermore, it must be understood that by the term flooring in my claim I mean to indicate not only boards, but tiles, cement, and generally any material which may be used for the final surface of the floor as a Whole.

I am aware that it is not new to construct pavements by the use of concrete arches supported by correspondiugly-arched plates Which are suspended upon flanges. I do not claim such a structure, since the object of my invention is to construct a floor for interior use which is flat on its under side and capable of being plastered, like an ordinary ceiling, and, furthern'iore, has on its upper side projecting portions of the Wooden beams adapted to permit ordinary flooring to be nailed thereto. My invention is thus adapted to produce, Without any expensive departure from ordinary systems of construction, a thoroughly fire-proof floor, which is also capable of being plastered on the under side,

7 as above stated.

joists, but not enveloping the top or bottom 0 of the same, flooring laid directly on top of said joists, and a coating of plaster or similar material applied to the under surface of the joistsand slabs, substantially as hereinbefore described.

FRANK FURNESS.

\Vitnesses: V

L. O. BAKER, J r., BIORGAN. BUNTING. 

